Kingdom Hearts: New Constellation
by Transii
Summary: [SxK,RxN OCs, Xovers] Our trio is called to investigate the appearance of a new constellation, which means new worlds. But Neo13 is waiting for them in the shadows that linger around every world's heart... not all nobodies joined the Organization. STOPPED
1. I don't have the heart

Sora ducked his head as he entered the cave, then paused.

_Have I really grown that much?_

Stepping outside again, Sora turned to face the entrance. Resting a hand horizontally on the crown of his head (he had to force down a few unruly tufts of hair in the process), he brought the edge of his hand forward to meet the rock. The brunette was rather astounded to find he was a full inch taller than the cave opening. Regarding this new discovery with a pause and acknowledgement of his long absence, Sora entered the cave once again.

He was greeted by the silent familiarity of the old hideout. Numerous pictures and scribbles lined the walls –memoirs, of a lasting kind. Those messages engraved into the wall would not fade for a long time.

Suddenly, the keyblade's chosen found himself washed over with heavy sorrow. So much had changed since that last day. His heart threatened to give way to the overwhelming emotion as his gaze ran over what he had left behind so long ago… the plans they'd made… to sail out to the sea to find new things… They had been daring but naïve and unknowing of the peril that loomed on the edge of their world. They'd been so carefree. If he had only known…

His mind swam as his eyes finally stopped on the very last image he had depicted before being swept away. And he was surprised again.

_Kairi. _

Kneeling down, he ran his calloused fingers over the equally rough stone wall. Nearly two years before, he had added to an already existing picture what he had thought would be his final message… before a boat journey across the ocean that surrounded the island. As Sora's fingers traced the rough lines, he realized it had been answered. And his 'final message' had been anything but.

"Sora?"

Sora whirled around on his heels, keyblade appearing in his hand automatically. "Who's…?"

"Hey –whoa," Riku exclaimed, holding up his hands. Long silver bangs covered most of his startled expression.

"Riku." Sora visibly relaxed, freeing his grip on the keyblade. It vanished from his hold with a small spark of light. Then his face turned to a questioning frown. "What are you doing here?"

Hands returning to his side, the aqua-eyed teen turned his eyes to the many pictures carved into the cave wall. "Reminiscing on past memories," he said. His eyes flickered back to Sora. "You?"

Sora's gaze wandered back to the picture he'd been looking at only a few moments before. "Same here."

Riku, having the advantage of height, peered over Sora's shoulder at the above mentioned drawing. The barest trace of amusement crossed his eyes. "I see," he stated.

Sora sniffed. Riku knew full well not to push him further on the current topic. So he changed it.

"The King's supposed to send someone for us today."

_That_ caught his attention.

"That was _today_?!" Sora turned to him, cerulean eyes wide. Riku stifled the urge to groan.

Looking agitated, the brunette went on. "Well, we can't just be standing around here!" If Riku didn't know any better, he would've said the look on his childhood friend's face was panic. "The King could come at any time!" Sora was already making his way toward the exit as he said this. "And… and…" He stumbled.

"Watch it." Riku (again having the advantage of height) stepped over the impeding rock (stone? _pebble?)_ and pulled his friend onto his feet. "And what?"

Sora's little trip seemed to have shut him up. "Nothing," he mumbled.

Eyebrows furrowing slightly, Riku persisted. "And _what_?"

"It's nothing, alright? I just need to do something before the King gets here, and, I, well…" Sora said hastily, trailing off. Suddenly his head snapped around, his eyes focused on something far off. Following his gaze, Riku squinted against the sun to focus on a quickly nearing figure.

Judging by the movement and foremost color of the approaching blur of a shape, Riku could easily determine that it was–

"Kairi." Riku lifted an arm in a welcoming motion to indicate his and Sora's location. The strawberry-colored form bobbed lightly as Kairi noticed the gesture and made her way over. His brow furrowed a little more. "What's she doing here? I thought she was supposed to stay home while the Gummi Ship picked us up."

"She _was_…" Sora stared at the approaching silhouette with increasing apprehension. It was only when Kairi was a few meters away that Riku put two and two together.

"You didn't tell her," he said slowly, "did you?" He looked down just as Sora stiffened. Sighing, Riku crossed his arms. "You didn't." Sora yielded him no attention. Staring hard at his male companion, Riku asked, "Why?"

"I…" –Kairi ran ever closer –"I don't…" –She was only a few steps away, and in a whisper almost inaudible Sora sighed, cerulean eyes brimming with sadness–

"I don't have the heart."


	2. Island Drabble and Old Friends

-1I got three reviews! 8D

THREE! XD

-does a happy dance-

ON TO CHAPTER 2!

X3

* * *

Something was up.

As she neared the two, Riku glared down at Sora, muttering something to him. Kairi slowed to a walk, then finally stopped before her friends –but not before Sora had made a short reply.

Hm. Strange… Keeping her thoughts to herself, she flashed them a smile.

"Hi guys!"

"Hey."

"…Hi, Kairi."

Oh, something was _definitely _up.

"So…" Kairi started, notching an arrow on curiosity's bow, per se; "today's the day we get picked up, right?"

"Yeah…," Riku trailed off, all the while sending a crumpling glare toward Sora out of the corner of his eye. The former kept his own eyes glued to the ground.

She tried again. "Shouldn't we be waiting? You know… like on the beach so they can find us better?"

"Mm." Riku grunted. Kairi frowned inwardly. She needed to get Sora to talk, not Riku… he's hiding something. The seventh Princess tried a more direct approach.

"You know, Sora," she said, looking pointedly at Sora, "I can't wait to visit all the worlds you've been to."

Bull's eye.

Sora shifted uncomfortably, keeping his gaze at his feet and mumbling something incomprehensible. Riku, his face a mask of stoic apathy, had his arms crossed and used an arm to elbow Sora in the ribs. Ouch.

Looking innocently at the both of them, Kairi cocked her head. "Is there something wrong?"

The two fidgeted. An awkward silence ensued, only highlighting ever more the fact that _something_ was oh, so _up_. Kairi had had enough of this. And besides, a corner of her mind and heart sadly acknowledged, she could probably guess what it was…

"Alright, that's it," she exclaimed, all pretense of ignorance gone in a flash. Crossing her arms in a Riku-like sort of fashion, and shifting her weight onto one leg, she sputtered agitatedly, "What is it?"

Jaws set firm, neither teen answered. Sora's expression now took the pinched frown of an upset child, not so much a pout than it was upset. Kairi would have laughed if not for the impeding atmosphere. Instead, she sucked in a breath and let it out slowly.

"Look, if neither of you are going to get to the point, I–"

"You know what?" Riku said suddenly. Startled, but pleased that at least _someone_ was willing to speak, Kairi turned to him eagerly.

Riku undid his arms, took Sora roughly by the shoulder, and began to half-lead half-drag him away, toward the direction of the shore. "I need to talk to Sora about something." Shoving his victim a little, he added, "We'll be right back."

Kairi fumed to herself.

_Boys. _So… _bizarre_. It's not like it was _obvious_ why Sora was acting up…

In her aloneness, she looked around at the Secret Place.

_Hmm…_

Kairi let out a loose exhale, then entered the small cave.

(A/N: I dunno, I needed an excuse to get on with the plot. -.-; I'm not very good at this fanfic thing… XD;; )

* * *

Crossing his arms, Riku leaned on one foot. "Sora."

"…" No reply. Sora looked out at the sea, the ever-blue sky tossing his hair about on gentle breezes. His eyes did not share the joviality.

Riku sighed. "Look, I can't force you to do something you don't want to, but… you know you have to tell her." Fighting the urge to shake his eyes free of his bangs, Riku narrowed his eyes. Sora was usually very bright (as in happy, not really smart… in a good way). It usually took something particularly distressing to get him in a state such as this. "Sora, she–"

"I know, okay?!" Sora exploded suddenly. Surprised, Riku blinked.

"I know I have to! I know she can't come! I know we have to leave her!" His arms and hands animated his fervor, reaching up to his brown hair, making as if to tear it, then, stopping abruptly at the halfway point, dropped down to his side in fists. "I just… I don't know how to tell her!"

He dropped to the sand, sitting with knees bent, elbows resting on them, hands holding his head. "We just got back." The grip on his hair tightened. "I… don't want her to have to watch us leave again…"

Riku blew his bangs off his face, dropping his head back to look up at the sky, and sighed. After running out of air to sigh with, he lifted his head back to look at his sorely angsting friend. Sora made no move.

This was going to take some time.

* * *

Goofy tentatively stepped onto the sandy turf. Donald followed suit, as did Mickey. The Gummi Ship's engine hummed into the ground behind them. They looked around at the familiar bent Paopu tree that their previous excursion had left them by. But their friends were nowhere to be seen.

The tallest of the three looked about, black ears flopping in the breeze. "Gawrsh, do ya think they forgot?"

"Naw, I don't think so, Goofy," the King squeaked, a grin spread over his muzzle. His tail flicked in the air. "They're just probably a little late, that's all."

Donald quacked indignantly. "A little, my tail feathers. That's just like 'em, forgetting about something like this. Bunch of palookas," he added, muttering. Mickey chuckled.

"Well, we'd better go find them," Goofy said, looking about. "They can't be too far away, right?" He began to lope off, heading inland. "Soooorrrrraaaa! Riiiiikuuu! Priiiiiinnnnnceeeeesssssss!!"

"WAUGH! Goofy! You can't just go waltzing into the town!" Donald waddled after him furiously, brandishing his staff. Goofy was effectively stopped short in his tracks when a certain mage's weapon came crashing down on his cranium.

Smiling, and shaking his head, the small King hopped up to his friends. "I gotta agree with Donald on this one, Goofy," he stated. "None of the people on this world besides Riku, Sora, and princess Kairi know about the Worlds… I suppose we'll have to stay away from the rest of the islanders as best we can, and see if we can find any of our friends before we do anything else."

Both the duck and the dog nodded their respective heads before answering with a "Right!" (and a "your majesty." tacked on by Donald).

And so they went in search of their friends.

* * *

"So what are you going to do?" Riku asked, drilling the information into Sora.

"…I'm going to tell her." Sora muttered, looking not at his silver-haired friend but at the sea.

"_That_…"

"…That she can't come with us." The brunette finished. Then, looking up toward the sun, he added, "No matter what she says."

"That's a good Sora," Riku said sarcastically. Sora attempted to give him an annoyed look, but couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from raising.

"I…" Sora looked back to the sea, then at Riku again. "Thanks, Riku."

Riku grinned. "That's what friends are for," he replied. "Encouraging pep talks." Looking toward where the two had earlier ditched the third member of their party, Riku decided they'd been away long enough.

"We'd better get back to Kairi, then," Sora sighed, following his gaze.

"Yeah. I guess s-"

"Sora! Riku!"

The two boys stopped, and turned, hearing their names called out for the second time that day. _Those voices…_

Sora recognized the voices just in time to be pummeled to the sand by their corresponding owners.

His blue eyes wide, the Keyblade's Chosen greeted his familiar companions.

"Donald! Goofy!" he cried, returning the bruising hugs he had been presented with. "I missed you guys!"

Riku turned from his embracing friend to the last new figure, nodding his welcome. "King Mickey."

"Riku." The king smiled broadly at him. Looking over at Sora, he asked, "Where's the princess?"

Riku blinked. "Kairi?" he asked, aqua eyes quizzical. "Why?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy, having finished their welcomes, turned back to the King.

Who continued to smile as he said,

"We're going to need her on this trip."

* * *

You know what? Discluding this footer note, this chapter has 1337 words.

XD;


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